Exodus 19:16-25

Modern English Version

¹⁶ So on the third day, in the morning, there was thunder and lightning, and a thick cloud on the mountain, and the sound of an exceedingly loud trumpet. All the people who were in the camp trembled. ¹⁷ Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. ¹⁸ Now Mount Sinai was completely covered in smoke because the Lord had descended upon it in fire, and the smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain shook violently. ¹⁹ When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him with a voice.^[a]

²⁰ The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses up to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. ²¹ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, warn the people, lest they force their way to the Lord to look, and many of them perish. ²² Let the priests also, which come near to the Lord, sanctify themselves, lest the Lord break through against them.”

²³ Moses said to the Lord, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for You warned us, saying, ‘Set boundaries around the mountain, and sanctify it.’ ”

²⁴ Then the Lord said to him, “Go, get down, and come up, you and Aaron with you, but do not let the priests and the people force their way through to come up to the Lord, lest He break through against them.”

²⁵ So Moses went down to the people and spoke to them.